TikTok star & football talent: A South Tyrolean is living his dream

Sleeping in comfortably in the morning, munching on a hearty Nutella bread for breakfast or going crazy at a party: that's the most normal thing in the world for most people. But not for Julian Baldi. When the alarm clock starts buzzing on the 25-year-old from Bolzano's bedside table at exactly 7.30:6 a.m., he begins a precisely timed daily routine. This includes a breakfast consisting of 300 eggs and 400 grams of minced meat. Or a dinner where 20 grams of turkey meat and around a kilogram of sweet potatoes come to the table. But there would also be a nap, which shouldn't last longer than XNUMX minutes, and of course two training sessions, one outdoors, one in the weight room.

Julian Baldi does it out of passion. And because he knows: I have to do this day after day so that I can fulfill my dream. The dream of becoming a professional football player one day. The 100 kilogram muscle pack left his South Tyrolean homeland behind him six years ago and has been living in the USA ever since. The big goal? “The NFL!” So the best league in the world.

Julian Baldi works in the weight room. © Julian Baldi

When we reached Julian Baldi by phone last week, a young boy who was passionate about his passion answered the other end of the line. He tells his story in South Tyrolean dialect - mixed with one or two Italian and American snippets of words - and only too fondly remembers his first points of contact with the exotic American football in this country, which is the national sport in the USA.

One film changed everything “I used to play basketball, but at some point I stopped enjoying it. One evening I saw the movie 'Game Without Rules' with Adam Sandler on TV. It was about football, and I immediately fell in love with this sport.” A few Google searches and conversations later, Baldi found himself on the South Tyrolean football team Giants Bozen.

Passionate footballer: Julian Baldi.

The newcomer quickly got a taste for it and was also blessed with talent. It quickly became clear to Baldi: “I want to take the next step.” Because the opportunities in South Tyrol, Italy and Europe are limited, Baldi quickly compiled his personal highlights into a video and sent it to the motherland of American football the USA.

At the age of 19 he emigrated to the USA This was followed by an invitation to a one-week training camp in Texas. “I knew then: I wanted to take this path.” This all happened in January 2016, when Baldi was almost 19 years old. A few months later he left his parents' apartment in the Kaiserau district of Bolzano behind and moved overseas.

Transfer Ready - Complete Package! ⬇️Watch the Tape ⬇️ ☑️ JUCO All American ☑️ Academic All Region (3.8GPA) ☑️Strength ☑️Speed ☑️Power ☑️Felxibility @CoachJesse18 @mkleinschrodt20 @coachcurtis42 @GFSBrecruits @Bigtanktv @RyanWrightRNG pic.twitter.com/AhDFnuPGQW

—Julian Baldi (@julian_baldi) May 25, 2021

Baldi then visited various colleges in the United States - always thanks to scholarships, because "otherwise a year like this can cost $30.000." He was in Kansas, Iowa and briefly in Florida, and he is currently enrolled at a university in Georgia. “In the USA it’s not like here where you play for a club. You go to a college and compete in championships with the team there. Many stars come straight from college to the NFL.” Baldi plays the linebacker position, so his job is to stop the opposing ball carrier.

Mini job at McDonalds to keep the dream alive The man from Bolzano did not let setbacks dissuade him from his path. When his adventure at a college in Kansas came to an early end after six months and he had to return to Italy, Baldi said to himself: “Now more than ever! The dream is not dead.” The football talent took two mini-jobs in Bolzano, namely at McDonalds and in the Noi Techpark, and trained like crazy at the same time. With success, because he made it back to the USA and back to college. “One of my videos went viral.” Julian Baldi But Baldi is not just a footballer, he has also achieved a certain level of fame on social media. His profiles on Instagram and TikTok are followed by almost half a million users. That's more than many NFL stars can boast. “I started posting training videos of myself on TikTok a while ago. I also did a back exercise that no one had ever done before. “This video went viral,” says Baldi, explaining the high number of followers. He has also built up another mainstay for himself. “In addition to playing football, I also studied nutrition and sports science at college. I already work part-time as a personal coach, so I create training and nutrition programs for people.”

This back exercise from Baldi went viral.

Baldi will complete his studies in May, then his time at college will also come to an end. That's why he's already making plans for the future. This week the 25-year-old is completing a training camp in Edmonton, Canada. There he can present himself to scouts and managers of the Canadian Football League. “Globally speaking, this is Serie B,” said Baldi, who hopes to be signed to a team. “That would be an interim step because my goal is still to get to the NFL. That would be Serie A.”

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TikTok star & football talent: A South Tyrolean is living his dream

At the tender age of 19 he emigrated to the USA, now he is a small internet star and is on the verge of becoming an American football professional: The story of Julian Baldi from Bolzano is everything but ordinary.

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